The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1887-12-31
Tom Fairwoather at Bombay.
BY LIEur. p. W. srURDY, U. s.Ms

One Of the most interesting of the
many short trips Tom made during
his stay at Bombay was a visit to
the Towers Of Silence, the place
where the Parsecs deposit their dead.
"Who are the Parsees ?" inquired
Tom, as they drove along. They
were mounting hill which finally
ended upon a ridge commanding a
magnificent view of Bombay.
"Who are the Parsees ?" repeated
his father. "Let me see. To begin
with, they are fre-worshipers who
left Persia after its conquest by the
Mohammedans, as they disdained to
change their religion. They first
went to the beautiful island of Or
muz, in the Persian Gulf, and later
migrated 10 India, where, after the
arrival of the English, they prosper
ed, and many acquired great wealth
and prominence. Some have been
made knights and baronets. They
are among the most respected citi-
zens of Bombay.
Arrived at the entrance to the in
closure where stand the Towers of
Silence, their card of admission was
presented, and they passed into this
very curious place.
The towers were five in number.
At a short distance from them was
a house of prayer for persons attend
ing funeral. There was also lit
tie temple in which the sacred
fire is always kept burning, and
from which its rays, escaping
through apertures in the walls,
fell upon the towers. There is a well
laid out garden, in which an excel
lent model of tower was shown to
the visitors by an English-speaking
attendant.
In explaining this model, and the
manner Of conducting funeral, the
man said; "The corps of a deceased
Parsee, clothed in white, is brought
up the hill on an open bier, covered
with a white cloth. In front of the
bier walks Il man carrying loaf or
two of bread, ana in the rear, at a
short interval, n man leads white
dog. Then follows the procession of
priests and relations of the dead,
who also clothed in white, walk in
pairs, each holding handkerchief
between them.
"When the procession arrives near
the tower the dog is made to look at
the features of the dead man, and is
then fed with bread.
Meanwhile all the followers go to
the house of prayer, and chant
prayers until the corpse-bearers en-
ter the tower with the body" Point
ing to the model the man continued:
"You see here is a door leading into
the tower. The interior, which is
open to the sky, has a circular floor
ing sloping downward on all sides to
the center, where is a pit. The outer
ring of the flooring is for men, the
middle one for women, and the in
ner one for children. In niche in
these rings the body is deposited.
Now if you will look out at the
towers in the garden you will see
that on each one of them is a num-
Der of vultures. AS soon as the
body-bearers leave the tower these
birds swoop down and strip the body
of every particle of flesh in less than
two hours. After few days the
bones are collected and deposited in
a well in the center, where they are
decomposed by the air and rain"
Tom listened to this description,
and as it was finished, he looked in
silence at his father, as though he
would like to know what he thought
of this extraordinary custom.
Captain Fairweather asked, "Why
do they have a dog to look upon the
body and eat bread ?"
at is the belief of the Parsees that
unless this be done the soul of the
dead man will be assailed by evil
spirits"
The garden itself was green and
inviting, but very short W ak SEEM
ed to satisfy father and son, for the
vultures, perched before their very
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